


Sidekick

by lifeinyourshape



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, No Spoilers, One Shot, POV Third Person, Pining, Songfic, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, technically?? - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-14 05:28:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20187031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifeinyourshape/pseuds/lifeinyourshape
Summary: Akira invites Ryuji over after a movie.





	Sidekick

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so uh don’t judge this too harshly please lmao, I haven’t written (fan)fiction in 5 or 6 years so I’m really really rusty but constructive criticism is appreciated! Anyways, I was heavily inspired by sidekick by walk the moon if you wanna give it a listen beforehand :)

>> yo akira

>> im so bored waitin around for another target. we should hang out today

>> how bout the movies?

Ryuji sighed, shut off his phone and flopped his head back onto his pillow. They were on a school break, thank  _ god, _ because these last exams really wore him out. It had been a week since the Phantom Thieves stole their last treasure and he was already getting antsy; there wasn’t even a solid lead for him to look into online. With really nothing to do but fiddle his thumbs, he decided to text Akira. He felt his phone vibrate on his chest a moment later.

>> Sounds good.

Breaking into a smile, Ryuji sat up and swung his legs over the side of his bed. His stomach churned at the sight of Akira’s text. It wasn’t that he was nervous, per say— it had been a little while since they hung out just the two of them, being that they were busy doing missions with the other Phantom Thieves all the time— he was just a little excited. It was his best friend, afterall.

>> great! ill meet u @ the one in shibuya

He stood up and grabbed his purple jacket hanging from a nearby chair, still staring down at his phone. Now all he needed to do was look up what movies were in theaters…

* * *

“Hey Akira!” Ryuji called, getting his attention. He half-jogged up to him.

“Long time no see! Sorry if I’m kinda late, I was rackin’ my brain trying to decide on a movie. Let’s go in!”

Akira nods and follows after Ryuji with his head down as he walks through the entrance, continuing to babble on. Glancing back, the blonde realized that Akira was missing his signature bag, which usually contained a certain signature brat.

“What, no Morgana today?” he asked and raised an eyebrow quizzically.

Akira looked up, a little surprised the focus was back on him. “Ah, no, I told him I was going to the movies with you and he decided not to come since you always talk through them,” he smiled.

“Ugh. That’s fair I guess. Didn’t wanna hear him insult me today anyway,” he rolled his eyes. Akira chuckled silently.

Now, Ryuji wasn’t stupid— or at least, wasn’t  _ that _ stupid; he knew what he felt for his friend, for his best friend, was more than just platonic. To not see that he’d have to be seriously in denial. Akira seemed like the only one besides his mom to give a damn about his existence in a long time, and while the others cared about him too, but it was different. If it weren’t for Akira, his life would have tanked by now and fate would have taken him down a completely different path. He was grateful for his friendship, he really was. And if to keep that friendship, he had to suppress his feelings for Akira, so be it. He’d rather be “just friends” with him until the end of time than jeopardize their current relationship.

Except that for Ryuji, holding back on something was, like,  _ really _ hard.

Naturally, he was very tactile with others, but with Akira— man, it was on a whole ‘nother level. It was like if he didn’t have any physical contact he’d just combust right then and there. (Not that Akira seemed to mind too much, though. He wasn’t very visibly expressive most of the time, not like Ryuji was, but he never protested before and had probably gotten used to his antics by now.)

So when there was a particularly terrifying jump scare in the horror movie they were watching, it took all of his strength to stop his hand that instinctively jerked to grab Akira’s in fear. Hand recoiled into a fist, he slouched further and settled on wrapping both his arms around the popcorn bucket like a kid with a teddy bear and squeezing it when he was scared. Ryuji was pretty sure half the bucket ended up on the ground.

Their legs were still shaky by the time they walked out of the theatre, eyes strained from the sudden sunlight. Wind whipped past their bodies and the brisk air gave them goosebumps even under their thick winter layers.

“I guess a horror movie wasn’t the best choice, huh?” Ryuji croaked, shoving his hands in his pockets for warmth and turning to face Akira. He only hummed in response and mirrored his friend’s actions.

Ryuji figured this was when the two would go there separate ways, as Akira most likely had other plans after this. He was a pretty popular guy. The blonde was sure that by now someone else was begging for his attention for the rest of the day.

“Well, thanks for hangin’ out with me today. Had fun nearly shittin’ myself for an hour and a half,” he said awkwardly, a small smile on his face.

“Me too.”

Akira directed his gaze to the ground and his bangs fell elegantly in front of his face, sweeping in front of his glasses and the redness on his face from the harsh cold. Fuck, he was cute.

Silence.

He knew he should say goodbye, see you later,  _ anything _ , but he just stared for a second too long before he realized how interesting the ground was, his face heating up. He kept shifting his weight and kicked away a loose rock on the ground. The chatter from other moviegoers filled the air, along with the smell of buttered popcorn that Ryuji could still taste in his mouth, salt still on his lips. He subconsciously wiped it off with his sleeves and hoped it didn’t leave a grease stain on his favorite jacket.

“Why don’t you stay at mine tonight?”

Ryuji’s head shot up and looked at Akira wide-eyed. He was rubbing the back of his neck, his eyes unreadable as the sunset bounced off his glasses.

“Huh?!” he managed to squawk out. Ryuji had gotten close to Akira these past few months, and sure he’d hung out in the attic with him until the last train plenty of times, but he’d never actually stayed with him overnight. He knew it shouldn’t be a big deal. It wasn’t. The thought of doing something so... intimate, he guesses that was the word he was looking for, even if normal friends did it all the time, just made him flustered. If his face wasn’t warm enough before, it was on fire now.

“It’s— it’s not like I’m scared after the movie or anything, ha ha, I bought a new game a few days ago and, y’know, I figured you’d wanna try it out with me,” explained the boy, waving his hands dismissively. It was rare for his leader to not keep his composure, so to see him stuttering telling an obvious white lie like this was pretty amusing. While Joker could talk his smooth talk his way out of anything, the same sure couldn’t be said for Akira. Ryuji couldn’t help but laugh, his eyes squinting and a toothy grin spreading across his face. It was cute that he was so shaken up by the scary movie that he didn’t want to be left alone, and Ryuji was perfectly fine being the one to comfort him.

“Yeah, okay buddy.”

Wrapping an arm around his shoulders, they walked off towards the station together.

* * *

He often imagined what would happen if he accidentally let it slip out that he liked him as more than a friend, how Akira would react. He wondered if he would pitifully tell Ryuji that  _ sorry, bro, but I’m straight _ , or  _ I only think of you as a friend _ , or think that it was a joke and laugh it off. 

Or react with disgust.

Obviously he knew that would never happen because  _ duh _ , it was  _ Akira _ . Akira wouldn’t abandon him because of his major crush, he knew that. He just… didn’t wanna make it awkward, y’know? And if it was always awkward when they hung out, they’d start spending less and less time together. The pain of slowly drifting apart while being able to do nothing about it— that shit hurts, man. He didn’t want that.

Sometimes he’d consider the idea that Akira wasn’t interested in him not because he was straight, but because he wasn’t attracted to him specifically, and he hated it. He would have rather never had a chance with the guy because of something out of his control instead of something about him as a person that drove away all romantic feelings. The thought of him dating someone else, a boy,  _ another boy _ , made him sick. Quite frankly, it was the last thing he wanted to think about right now.

His mind began to wander again, though, and he allowed himself to think about what would happen if Akira did like him back. If maybe one day, on their usual trip back to LeBlanc, Ryuji would do or say something that made Akira’s insides twist just as bad as Ryuji’s did when he was with him, and he just couldn’t take it anymore and yanked him by his wrist inside, mistakenly leaving the keys hanging from the doorknob in his haste, shrugging off their shoes and jackets as he towered over him and feverishly backed him up against the counter, the blonde tightening his hold on the ledge as Akira leaned down to deepen the kiss—

With a jolt, he was back in the attic. He tightened his grip on his controller, embarrassed, and quickly glanced over to his friend, who seemed none the wiser that he had totally spaced out and imagined them kissing rather passionately. He was suddenly extremely thankful that Morgana, upon their arrival, had ditched them to go hang out with Futaba so that he couldn’t chastise him about this.

Akira was sitting next to him on the couch they had adjusted to face the TV with a single leg perched up, focused on the screen in front of him. His brow furrowed and he smirked as he effortlessly held the lead in the racing game they had started up earlier, and oh yeah, Ryuji should probably be concentrating on that right now. His eyes flickered back and saw his character lodged against a wall, unable to move forward and in last place.

“C’mon dude, you’re making this too easy! You’ve lost your touch,” the voice next to him teased. Cursing under his breath, he desperately reversed and tried to catch up using whatever items he could, but it was no use. His friend strolled over the finish line and snatched up first place before he could even come close.

Akira celebrated by overdramatically pumping his fist in the air as Ryuji wailed in agony.

“Nooooooo!” he tilted his head back and slumped his shoulders at his humiliating defeat. Rolling his head over to look at his friend, pouting, the other boy sent him the biggest shit-eating grin ever and he could practically see the hazy pink glow and anime sparkles appear in the moment. Ryuji couldn’t decide whether he wanted to punch him or grab him by the face and kiss him just to wipe off that cocky look off his stupid face.

“At least I’m not the one who was scared shitless after watching a movie.”

“Are you sure about that? ‘Cause you’re the one who’s been uncharacteristically quiet this whole time.”

Caught red-handed. Turns out he did notice Ryuji spacing out, just decided to be nice and ignore it earlier. He chalked it up to something else, at least, even if that meant the blonde had to resist the urge to defend himself and his dignity.

“Whatever.” He elbowed him hard, but not enough to actually hurt him.

“Whatever!” He shoved him back lightly, giggling.

They continued play-fighting, smacking and shoving each other while laughing like a couple of kids. With one particularly strong shove, Ryuji knocked him over onto his back and hovered over him, pinning him to the couch.

His heart was beating out of his chest as he breathed heavily with a wide grin on his face. Sleek black hair splayed across the pillow, Akira had this crooked grin on his face, cracking an eye open to peer up at the boy above him from behind long eyelashes. The tip of his tongue peeked out from behind his teeth at the side of his mouth while he helplessly giggled, a small snort slipping out in the process. Ryuji felt his whole body flush and knew right then and there that he was done for: getting over this crush was going to be the hardest thing he ever did in his life.

Suddenly, as if taking advantage of his awestruckness, Akira whipped out the pillow from under his own head and smacked Ryuji in the face with it, who fell back in surprise.

He kept swinging to obtain the upper hand until eventually the two basically switched places, with Ryuji flat on his back and Akira now practically straddling him. He continued mercilessly, yelling something about how the boy under him needed to admit defeat if he wanted to survive.

“Alright, alright, you win, you win!” Ryuji squealed, holding his arms up in defense until the incoming barrage stopped. There was no way he could put up a fight. When it came to Akira, it was no use; no matter how much he wanted to resist, he couldn’t help but let him get his way.

Still cackling uncontrollably, Akira rolled over and flopped to his side. He was wedged between Ryuji and the back of the couch, arm resting on the pillow he dropped on the other boy’s chest. The blonde propped his head on his arm to make more room. Akira was giving his real, honest laugh, the kind where the corners of his eyes teared up and he couldn’t control how loud he was being and there was a wheeze to it as he tried to catch his breath.

And Ryuji couldn’t help but laugh along with a dopey smile on his face, lovestruck, observing the way his eyes crinkled or his lips curled around his teeth when he laughed like that. It was a rare but incredibly adorable sight that made his heart clench.

There was just something about Akira when it was just the two of them alone. He didn’t need to put up this facade that he was always so calm, cool, and collected; even around their other friends there was constantly a sense that he needed to be in leader mode around them. He was always a little tense. He needed to perform every minute of his life, whether he needed to be the diligent student at school to keep himself on probation and out of jail, or the good friend who could always lend an ear to listen or a shoulder to lean on without ever asking for the same in return, or the level-headed leader they all needed while exploring the dangerous labyrinth that is the Metaverse. When it was just them two, he didn’t need to pretend that he was perfect or always knew what he was doing. He could just forget about the world around him and relax and do normal things that dumb teens do. That was what Ryuji thought, at least.

He didn’t realize it in his drunken Akira state, but his best friend was looking back at him too, laugh long gone with a doughy smile in its place. His eyes undoubtedly flickered between his eyes and his lips, slowly pushing himself up with the arm on Ryuji’s chest and edging closer. He found himself leaning in too, heart racing, until their foreheads were touching. Their breath ghosted on each other’s lips as their eyes had trouble deciding on whether eye contact or parted lips were more important. Ryuji could feel how hot his own face was. A blush had taken over Akira’s face as well. Without thinking, his hand raised to tuck a strand of hair behind the other’s ear and cup the side of his face gingerly.

“Can I kiss you?” Akira whispered just loud enough that he could hear it above his heart hammering into his ears. His hypnotizingly grey eyes were half-lidded, but they looked hesitant and vulnerable; it sent a chill down his spine. His throat was tied in a knot and no words could escape, so he furiously nodded his head, so much so it should have probably been embarrassing, but he didn’t care because yes,  _ god yes _ , and watched his lips as they twitched into a smirk and closed the agonizing gap between them.

His eyes fluttered closed like in all of those cheesy rom-coms he watched with his mom as their lips brushed together. It was very sweet— delicate and tender, with their true feelings for one another bursting at the seams. He could taste a hint of the coffee Akira had made himself earlier, and while he usually hated the taste, he  _ loved _ it on Akira.

Half-heartedly, they pulled apart after merely a few seconds, making eye contact as Ryuji softly pulled his own bottom lip between his teeth and pushed up the other boy’s glasses to rub the skin under his left eye with his thumb. Akira placed his hand over the one on his face, a soft sigh escaping his lips as he leaned into the touch. The silence they found themselves basking in was welcoming and comfortable, with no need to fill it.

“I have to admit, I, uh, did not that coming,” Ryuji breathed out eventually, face still hot. Akira was smiling lightly, but a look of confusion spread across his face.

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t think you liked me back, like, at all,” Ryuji said, chuckling. But the other boy just gawked at him for a longer time than what was comfortable, making Ryuji avert his eyes and pull back his hand. “What, man?”

Akira put his fingers to his temple, shutting his eyes irritably and snickered.

“Do you know… how obvious I was trying to make it? Did you just not notice how I complimented you and told you how attractive you were every chance I got?” 

“Well—“

“I’m pretty sure the whole damn team knows at this point!” Akira said, flailing his arms in performative frustration.

“For real?!” he stared stupidly, open-mouthed.

“I don’t know, I just… thought you were like that with everyone?” he spoke unconfidently, suddenly realizing the extent of his obliviousness. Akira really did take every opportunity he could to compliment him— to commend him on a job well-done in the Metaverse, or praise him for getting a higher score on a test, or express how much he enjoyed their time together, or notify him that he looked especially nice that day. Thinking back, he didn’t really talk like that to anyone else in the group, so he wasn’t sure how he convinced himself otherwise.

Akira gave a small smile and snorted, shaking his head in utter disbelief. “You’re a dumbass sometimes.”

“Hey—!” Ryuji exclaimed, knowing not to take the words to heart.

“— but you’re  _ my  _ dumbass,” he finished, nuzzling his head back onto Ryuji’s chest. He just huffed and ran his fingers through his tousled hair, playing with the ends.

“... How long’ve you been trying anyway?” He figured he might as well ask since they were already on the subject.

“I’ve been flirting with you since day one,” Akira said, nonchalant.

“Seriously? That long?!”

He adjusted himself to balance on his chin so he could look up at Ryuji and raised his eyebrows.

“Yeah, why? How long have you liked me?” He could feel the hum of his voice on his chest.

“W-well, uh,” he felt his face heat up and he tilted his head back to look at the ceiling,” I dunno… it wasn’t really like a defined moment when I started liking you, y’know? It was like, one day after school when we went to get ramen like usual, we were just talkin’ about something, I don’t remember, and when I looked at you, I realized there was no one else I’d rather have at my side— and it wasn’t like, in a bro way— and that I had been feeling like that for a while. I just finally put a name to it, really.” There was a beat.

“Ryuji.”

He hummed and directed his gaze back to the weight on his chest. Akira was absolutely beaming at him with the broadest smile he could muster smeared across his face.

“Dude, that was like the most romantic and very ‘you’ thing you could have said to me.” He pulled Ryuji closer by the back of his neck and met him halfway for another kiss, lingering much longer this time. The blonde ran his fingers up and down his back, drawing out a shiver from his lanky counterpart.

“This mean I don’t hafta sleep on the couch tonight?” he teased once they separated, a little out of breath. Akira snorted and slapped him on his chest.

“Whatever!” he smirked.

“Whatever,” Ryuji breathed out and ruffled his hair. He wasn’t sure if he’d ever get used to this.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](http://lifeinyourshape.tumblr.com)


End file.
